The owner of the Malibu home whose deck collapsed during a party earlier this month is being sued by party-goers who alleged that the deck was a rotting disaster waiting to happen, according to CBS LA. The house was reportedly being rented through a short-term rental website.
More than a dozen people fell around 15 feet to the rocky shore below when the deck collapsed on Saturday, May 8. Two people were critically injured. A total of four went to the hospital.
A CBS LA report said that the homeowner, who was not named, had urged her guests to get their partying friends to leave the property minutes before the deck fell through.
The homeowner can be heard stating the short-term rental’s rules limiting the number of people permitted at the property in a recording of a phone call obtained by CBS LA; “OK, well, I’m sorry, Maria, we’ll try and get everyone out of here,” the guest can be heard responding.
The CBS LA report also shows photos of the wood beneath the deck as covered in green moss and purportedly rotting.
“The deck was in pretty poor condition. Even if it was six people or one person, nobody should’ve been allowed on that deck,” Attorney Greyson Goody, who is representing the renters, told CBS LA.
The homeowner’s attorney said that the deck was inspected in 2018 and had no rotten wood. The attorney also told CBS LA that the allegations about the deck are false and the renter violated the rental agreement by having more than six guests at the home.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this brief stated the property had been listed on the vacation rental website Vrbo (based on reporting from CBS LA). After this brief was published, a Vrbo spokesperson wrote to The Malibu Times: “We don’t have record of this property on Vrbo.” It now appears CBS LA has removed references to Vrbo in its online report as well.